GeronimoJacksBeard

My brother lived in Australia for a while. Met his now girlfriend there and was living with her and her parents for a period. Her father - a sweet, lovely, innocent minded fellow had a general health check up and was informed he needed to up his Vitamin C intake. He asked how he should go about doing that and was met with the basic response of adding some orange juice to his breakfast each morning.

From that point on he began having orange juice with his weetabix every morning. Poured into the bowel. Instead of milk. 😐

Edit - Read the first few posts and was instantly reminded of this and felt the need to share, thinking nobody else could have encountered such madness. Just seen what @HarmonicGeneratorpost...

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Shamrock just seemed to be every kid's favourite, and no one could understand why he had just disappeared. All those rumours went into overtime when Angle started doing the Anklelock.

I still see echoes of it sometimes - a wrestler starts doing someone else's finish, and people start predicting that it's going to lead to that person debuting/coming back for a feud over it. For something that's been speculated about so many times, the closest I can think to it ever actually having happened is that Eddie Guerrero feuded with RVD when he came back to the WWF. Usually, someone else starting to use your finish is a sure sign that you're persona non grata, not that you're being brought back.

Genuinely had no idea Kurt/Shamrock was a popular playground rumour and thought it was just something that popped in my head one day as being a neat prospect. But similarly, the Eddie/RVD feud you mention - i convinced myself D'Lo would be returning and getting involved there at some point for a 3-way Frog-splash feud. Just complete wishful thinking with D'Lo being one of my top boys.

Wrestling fans will jump all over all sorts, thinking it's a nod, hint or foreshadowing of something. We love that shit. I also recall seeing Hurricane suddenly having a mask he'd put on young fans in the front row being a definite acknowledgement that Bret Hart was coming back.

22 hours ago, air_raid said:

 IC is clunky to me.

😂😂😂

'I' being used so commonly in English language as it's own separate or individual word makes yours very unpleasant to read and disrupts the sentence flow somewhat. If IC is too clunky for you, why shorten it at all? As you have, why not Undisputed to 'U'? Because it's not a commonly used abbreviation relevant to the subject matter and familiar to the reader, perhaps? Yeah, neither is 'I' title. 

6 hours ago, Max Power said:

I think Summer 1999 Rock is peak.

Fair point actually. That sliding Peoples Elbow scored over 40 mega-fonzies on the cool-o-meter.

Batista is so cool Kevin Nash would let him shag his missus.

Also the latest incarnation of Vodka shilling Vladimir Koslov.

On 2/3/2021 at 9:28 AM, The Dart said:

After Charlotte choosing NXT last year, it at least does logically make sense that Edge has that option and would consider it, so him appearing on NXT to tease it is no worse than him appearing on both Raw and Smackdown to tease which title he's going to choose.

It would and could be a nice story going for a title he's never held...only the story has been going for the title he never lost due to early retirement. Which is already slightly retconned to fit the narrative as that title isn't technically knocking about any more.

22 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Someone on Reddit did a great video of him highlighting why WWE production can feel so stale. Now there's familiarity in wrestling that gets you a pop, and there's CTRL C/CTRL V.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/UnlawfulAnyHarborporpoise-mobile.mp4

Christ. With the Thunderdome piped in crowd reactions, the new entrance camera, the current commentary style, the over reliance on ageing wrestlers of the past...we can't be far away from WWE existing entirely as a simulation.

There was that photo a few years back of Vince in the VR headset. He's going to find a way to run his company in his style from beyond the grave.

For years i absolutely hated Mickey Cole and his whole style. Then i came round to him a bit when he started doing his Miz superfan stuff and arseing about on NXT 3. Years thinking he's a soulless robot to realising let loose there was something there and he had some humour to him. And then he actually seemed pretty decent when he did the UK title tournament, which had that different feel about it and probably didn't have Vince screaming and dictating everything in his ear all night long. I don't know if he's so much the problem, but the system and that he's very good at his job with regards hitting the correct notes his boss wants and professional and slots into that system too well to act as Vinces puppet and be devoid of any emotion, when that's what that role actually really needs. That stretches and applies across the company though.

The Rumble match is such an awesome concept. Done well, it features loads of intertwining stories, payoffs, whets appetite and teases with interactions and potential interactions, foreshadows big things on the horizon. 2004 is one of my absolute favourites as it was just a non stop onslaught of all of this. Somewhere along the line, many Rumbles become unbelievably lazy in their booking. Relying on a few surprise pops and the rest of the match mostly consisting of - guys comes in, gets a shine and hits his signature spots then fades off into the background. Next guy comes in, gets shine, hits spots, fades into background and repeat all the way through. Often up until the last couple of guys come in and the closing stretch happens. Last year was so refreshing because it was the first time in ages that it felt like it took a different format. Although that only really lasted until Brock was out. This years Rumble, having no live crowd, desperately needed to have a bunch of stories going on, something constantly happening, one thing after another and little dead periods of nothing really happening.

Eddie.

Granted, his title shot came about after a nifty little Rumble match on Smackers i believe. Traditionally, a Rumble win story would be the most over babyface in the company winning en route to their first crowning, marking their official arrival at the top. Eddie is/was one of the most genuinely adored babyfaces WWE had ever had. He absolutely warranted a proper Rumble win accolade.

Had a fairly similar experience of the show to @LaGoosh it seems. Except i came in at the Womens title  match, watched the rest from there, not realising i'd missed Andrew vs William.

I'd pretty much checked out since the shows became empty arena. Well, gradually long before then - but before then i'd still watch the youtube clipped versions and check out some shows on the network. I haven't since around 'Mania though, only really checking out the odd Roman bit since he came back, being very interested in that character and seeing how Big E is fairing. Generally tend to always give the Rumble ago, loved last years more than many in a while and opted to check this one out from morbid curiosity of how such a match might play out in the current setting and because i wanted to watch the Yoko doc.

But...yeah, think i'm too far gone and not keen to go back in a hurry. May give 'Mania a go considering fans might be back and depending on how the card shapes up. Not sure if the Thunderdome setting is too much of a factor, or just much of the presentation as a whole. My wrestling tastes didn't fit with a lot of this, yet seems to have been quite enjoyed by many others. Usually like to keep as positive a spin as possible when it comes to this stuff, but dipping back here just left a depressing aftertaste.

Stunned many are calling the Womens Rumble decent and better than the Mens. I thought that was an absolute shambles and embarrassing. Except for the closing stretch with Rhea and Bianca, who tbf seem absolutely class. Happy to see Bianca won, loved what i've seen of her and thought she put in an absolutely phenomenal showing in last years. Overall though, points throughout the match had me wondering if they can keep it up having both Rumble matches each year. Seemed like there was so many fluffed spots, miscommunications of girls bumping into each other, walking into and accidentally disrupting a spot/elimination spot and then camera missing spots as a result also. Just messy and all over the place and not in a good way that compliments a Rumble. But also so much of the main thing that takes me out of wrestling these days, that feeling that we're so far gone on everyone knowing it's a work that nobody even bothers to try and make it seem otherwise. Obvious feeding, working together, just so hokey that it's impossible to suspend any disbelief of what you're really watching people (not even) pretending to fight. Couple of positives though - thought Nikki Cross looked great and one of the very few that really had something about her and some energy. And to my previous point, she came in showed out and nobody fed for her give her some shine, which i imagine they were meant to and she was expecting and rather than waiting awkwardly with time standing still she went round and battered everyone herself and it looked great. And i'm absolutely here all day long for Liv Morgan channelling 2002 Xtina 'Dirrrty' vibes.

That LMS match was just ridiculous. Roman just has superstar oozing from every pore in his body though and has a presence like nobody else there. Kevin Owens though, fucking hell. Usually like the bloke but i'd be intrigued if all those that always hated the Cena Superman stuff were bothered by his lack of selling here. Gets launched off a scaffolding through a table, minutes later absolutely SPANKED by a speeding golf cart, minutes after that launches himself off that forklift. And at no point between or after any of this is he really selling any of it. Back up in moments because 10 count...but back up and stays up showing no real ill effects. Roman was doing a much better job with this, only he'd received much less punishment. Graves, fairplay to him i guess, briefly attempted to cover this with the adrenaline explanation but quickly gave up himself it seemed when more big hits came immediately after. Mental they opted to actually use the key for that end spot rather than just cutting the chain link.

Nothing much to say on the Mens Rumble. It certainly makes it apparent that surprise entry spots don't really work in this environment and just serve as a stark reminder of the situation. I've fancied Carlito popping up in one for years, so it was mightily depressing he rocks up in this one, for the first time in ages without an actual reaction. But Hurricane showing up again, to that spot again is the other end of the scale and representative of the lack of anything fresh or creative from this lot. Was nice to see Christian...and this felt so very Christian in the yeah, he's Edge (the real superstars partner) in that he makes his grand return here with no audience, where Edge made his last year to that incredible moment and reaction. And then Edge wins and takes the glory this night too. LOLZ. Orton buggering off early on, to obviously return later led me to believe we'd be getting Fiend silly bollocks by the end of this. So didn't expect things to end as they did. Both Rumbles having the going the distance story is a bit "damn it D'Lo". That really should have been reserved for being a big talking about the young, upcoming amazing athlete Bianca Belair performance though and being the first woman to do as such, rather than a similar story for banged up hall of famer Edge. As it went, Biancas shine is immediately undermined as she came in at number 3 and the final 2 in the Mens were 1 and 2. Such simple, obvious stuff to avoid.

This show was the first time i've really felt the camera cuts thing and utterly ruined potential enjoyment. The 2nd half of the Mens that shit was mental. Literally verging on unwatchable. I really can't understand it. Much of the presentation of the product today makes me feel old and out of touch and i don't know if this is something that works with a younger audience and their viewing habits or something but it's absurd and only exaggerated when trying to follow a Rumble.

18 minutes ago, Winston said:

I love 'what could've been' stuff like this. They showed original concept of Kane on a recent Network show with a red cape.

Love that stuff too. Kane did rock the red cape at some point though, there's a photo or two and vid knocking about of it.

The best one of these has to be the Christian Blue Dot face story. Although Chilly McFreeze, etc is up there too.

Sometimes think i might have dreamt this, clearly that was actually Vince.

Also Rumble related - apparently Randy Orton won it a few years back. And also Orton related...

Little recollection of that whole deal.

On the subject of Momma Benjamin - I can't find it, so maybe it didn't actually happen and is merely a troubling creation of my mind, but i have a vague recollection of some PPV having a bizarre dance interlude of sorts with loads of folks 'Eddie Murphied' up as her. ...Did that really happen!?

22 hours ago, The Cutting Edge said:

Trips Vs Batista is a good example, it's good to put them together so no new guys losses but if Dave lost to and upper card guy it might've helped them.

That's basically exactly what they did with Angle/Corbin. And seemed very much as though it was the same kind of group pissing and moaning that Angle wasn't facing another part-time legend instead. Such is the hilariously fickle nature of many a wrestling fan. Vince isn't their real Dad and examples like that almost make some of Vinces ways feel understandable.

13 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Pat was in a place of power for a lot of his time there, pretty much the number two guy in the company behind Vince. Who the hell was going to give him shit?

Point being - If that culture of wrestling was such that it would cause a gay gentleman to struggle with their sexuality to such a degree, would Pat have ever ended up in such a position...?

Nothing to see here

FFS

*Accidental Double Post

14 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I think you're doing him a disservice by not acknowledging the role that the culture of wrestling will have had on that, though. 

We've got a whole thread discussing how The Undertaker was just recently banging on about "real men" in locker rooms - and he's the guy that's always been heralded as the locker room leader, and the "conscience" of the WWF. It's that kind of sheltered, hyper-masculine environment that would have led to him having so much self-doubt and insecurity about his sexuality.

That might have been the case. And that kind of thought process has long been the general assumption of how it is on that subject matter in wrestling locker rooms. There's evidence of homophobic elements appearing in the product over the years and some wrestlers exposing their homophobic mindsets also, you'd have found just as much of that outside the wrestling bubble at the same periods mind. What i've always found contradictory to that though is Pat Patterson. Maybe there's something i'm not aware of, but he' d been openly gay forever and there's few that have been held in such a high regard and respected by other workers as him within the WWE/F. There'd be the jokes along the lines of "doing some rear-end work at the Briscoes Body Shop" and again perhaps i've misread it, but that sort of stuff never felt like it had any kind of hate or malice behind it, seemed more lovingly joking and it seemed like Pat absolutely enjoyed being part of the whole environment and culture of wrestling. Genuinely curious if i am missing something on that though, as i've always felt it didn't add up with the general consensus of how most saw locker rooms to be.

Orlando Jordan was out only a couple of years after Kanyon wasn't he? I don't recall anybody giving much of a shit about that either and the same with Darren Young a little later. There's definitely a percentage of homophobic types that exist in wrestling, but i'm not sure you can put the culture of wrestling on causing someone to struggle with their sexuality anymore than other aspects of their life - their childhood, home life, other work places could/might have.

I'd be very interested in this episode all those things considered. Really liked Kanyon, he's very much in my boys stable. Utterly shit how it went for him and when it happened very much wondered if it was just a case of his own insecurities or was compounded by being within wrestling, didn't realise there was a book.

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Can anyone recall how WWE pay per views were airing in 1996? I’m convinced my first taste of pro-wrestling was tuning into the 96 Royal Rumble whilst flicking through the channels. Did it air at a normal time?

I'm pretty certain the '96 Rumble was shown live (at midnight). I don't think the IYH shows were being shown at this stage though. We'd got Sky in my gaff at the end of '95. I jumped straight back into WWF to see what was going on. I'm going to say it was 5pm weekday slots at this point, Raw on the Friday. I'd picked up just after Bret had nabbed the belt back from Big D. I remember the Bret-Bulldog IYH being built (got a hazy memory of Davey being interviewed at home with his Crimbo decs up), but not being able to watch that IYH. So Rumble was the first PPV i had the chance to see with this wonderful new world of Sky. Naturally i taped it and feigned being too sick for school the next day.

On the Scott Hall never appearing in a Rumble - it's one of my favourite weird Rumble  facts that Razor Ramon only ever appeared in one Royal Rumble match and it was fake Razor. 

54 minutes ago, Supremo said:

It would fit WWE perfectly to finally do super babyface Daniel Bryan against mega heel Roman Reigns as the Wrestlrmania main event...in front of no fans. Imagine that match a few years ago in front of 80,000 people. Fuck me.

I was thinking this, only about a Rumble win for him itself. All those Rumbles shat on by fans in attendance sulking that Bryan isn't winning it or even in it. To go ahead and do it when fans can't be there feels like the ultimate WWE trollng and although unfortunate and depressing, a little amusing too.

On that note - those saying doing the Pearce deal is perfect on a Rumble card as the Rumble is the real draw, absolutely, but probably even more so when they haven't got to worry about getting fans into an arena at all. And as much as Babyface Bryan vs Heel Reigns sounds like a magic 'Mania main event with a huge audience there in person,  it's an ideal safe headliner in the circumstances also. Bryan has had his moment and only cares about having a wrestle and putting other lads over it seems these days. He's perfect foil that enough people would want to watch to potentially dethrone Reigns, with Reigns going over and continuing his dominance while Bryan likely loses nothing in the process, as they'll almost certainly have an absolute banger even without fans. Probably the best possible pairing to do as such to be honest.

All the while a Big E build gradually develops. I'm all about heel Reigns vs conquering babyface Big E. I'm all about big men slapping meat. But i'm also all about long term storytelling and builds. In the current environment there's no real urgent need or rush to establish someone new to be crowned to cap off 'Mania. Reigns seems to be truly excelling in his current role and in this environment. I'd like that to continue and for him to have a long, dominant reign. And for E to have a similar significant IC title run before stepping up. And hopefully for it all to be timed nicely so that they could slap each others meat at SummerSlam, with maybe even the long shot that there could be some fans there for it if some outside venue dealie can happen by then.

On 1/4/2021 at 9:03 PM, IronSheik said:

2. Wrestlers putting their hands around their waist to insinuate the shape of a championship belt. Like pointing at another wrestler and making that movement allegedly drives him nuts. (I kinda find this one silly and old fashioned and agree with Vince) 

My favourite example of this - in the early days of Progress, they had opted to try and be different by having their championship represented by a shitty Staff, rather than a belt. There'd been a MITB style angle where Mark Andrews won, then immediately lost said championship. The following show, when he comes out fans are chanting about him being the real champion, or something along those lines. In response Andrews nods and does the hands around the waist gesture...before quickly realising this isn't relevant or fitting to this situation or promotion and instead immediately, enthusiastically starts wanking off a big imaginary pole.

On the WWE Universe thing - I always thought the initial introduction of that was a marketing thing, coinciding with the launch of the network to have WWE thought of and put in similar brackets to that of Marvel, DC, Star Wars and so on. Similar principle with pushing of the 'Superstar' term. Just somewhere along the way 'Universe' became more a term for a reference to the audience.

Man, dubbing the lad -1 is equal parts wonderful and heartbreaking.

1 hour ago, garynysmon said:

I really don't like the influx of moves that involve massive neck impact that seems to have crept in over the past 20 years tbh.

It feels to me like it all started on a national level with the likes of Scott Steiner and then Taz and Benoit's incessent German suplexes. Don't ask me why, but  while piledrivers etc don't bother me, I wince at how often we see moves ending up with such obvious neck trauma. 

For instance, how do you take a One Winged Angel safely? With a back bump you can spread your weight I'd have thought, whereas how do you protect your neck in a similar way? Speaking as someone who's never stepped foot in the ring, it can't be good for you in the long run surely?

Going back to finishers though, the worm and people's elbow were dreadful finishers if you take away the lead-up to them. At least Hogan's legdrop was sold pretty well due to the size of the guy performing it.

 

On the second point - they were perhaps a dreadful finisher, but they made a great signature. For me, there is finishing moves - a move that could feasibly finish a match almost instantly at any point or almost certainly guaranteed victory once caught with it following all the complimentary offence to it. And signature moves, that might not be able to do what a finisher does, but the wrestler likes to sign off their victory with. Really suited someone like The Rock perfectly to do that.

On the first point, agreed. Although i think 90's Japan might have a lot to answer for there also. It's just my take on wrestling, i like a snug style, crazy or even just regular head/neck bumps are quite unnecessary and easily avoidable though. I worked for a bit and although definitely working snug, kept my offence entirely to my opponent required to only taking a back bump or at the most flip bump for that reason.

On the original topic point - WrestleMania VIII, Savage dethrones Flair after a closed fist and a roll-up!

8 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

That's one of their big problems, that need to do things every year because it's just what they do. As much as we love it, the Royal Rumble was the start of it, creating that scenario that they had to repeat year on year on year with very little way to vary it.

I'm not so sure on that to be honest. I don't think there's anything wrong with annual or seasonal shows, PPVs, gimmicks in general. Quite the opposite actually, i think wrestling could be worse off without them. They occur in real sports as well as just seasonal aspects in real life that provide people with things to look forward to and get excited about. Part of the fun of being a wrestling fan is the anticipation of where things are going, how and when the pay off comes. That can be created through good, logical booking anyway, but having certain constants isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like anything in wrestling it's down to how it's booked and the presentation.

Personally i always felt they had a pretty perfect seasonal format with the big 4 shows spread out through the year. And actually even more so when King of the Ring was added and made into a PPV. Maybe it's because i grew up on it and of course times change, but i still feel that way. Compliments a long term booking style, building to a big end of season like crescendo, establishing stars along the way.

Less is more in wrestling and for a long time now the quality of the WWE product as far as shows goes has been a victim of their overall business success and dominance. There's just so much of everything now it's inevitable something suffers. There's no off season. There's a million shows a year. There's about 700 hours of fresh content created every week. There's probably hundreds of thousands of wrestlers under contract just so they don't work elsewhere, so many never really develop beyond a certain point. There's 100 title belts. 8000 writers. Now they're camera style matches all of this. You can be with the company for decades with nothing much in your career particularly. changing. WrestleMania is 3 weeks long. Everyone and everything is over exposed and becomes watered down.

Hell in a Cell and TLC are stupid concepts for a whole PPV to occur at the same point every year. Certain matches should be saved for when a particular feud demands it, certainly. If they insist on doing PPVs with big gimmick matches with no storyline reason behind them, they may as well do a Raw Roulette style show. At least there'd be an element of intrigue and the match types can be mixed up. Regarding concepts like The Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, Money in the Bank and Elimination Chamber though, i think they can work as annual events as they can be effective methods of establishing someone and leading to other matches.

WWE are a company run on habit. Wrestling fans are massive creatures of habit. So much of the viewership that remains is based on habitual viewing judging by the comments you generally see. I'm not sure which is responsible for the other.

Cheers for the responses, appreciated. I think i confused matters myself a bit there on the childcare/support bubble front with my wording. My mother was only looking after him regularly as lived under the same roof, hasn't since but as i say that's only 2 weeks. They'd all been under the same roof prior and my Mum living alone those 2 weeks. Guess 2 weeks is considerable when we're talking rate of spread though, so renders that point irrelevant. Cheers again!